The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
young Vidyádhara, named Mánasavega, having beheld Madanamanchuká,
when she was a maiden, on the top of the palace, suddenly descended
from heaven, and approaching Kalingasená, told her his name, and asked
her to give him her daughter. When Kalingasená refused, he went as
he came; but why should he not have now come secretly and carried her
off by his magic power? It is of course true that heavenly beings do
not carry off the wives of others; on the other hand, who, that is
blinded by passion, troubles himself about the right or wrong of an
action?" When Naraváhanadatta heard this, his heart was overwhelmed
with anger, impatience, and the sorrow of bereavement, and became
like a lotus in the waves.
Then Rumanvat said, "This palace is guarded all round, and it
is impossible to enter or go out from it, except through the
air. Moreover, by the favour of Siva no misfortune can befall her;
so we may be certain that she has hidden herself somewhere, because
her affection has been wounded. Listen to a story which will make
this clear."
Story of Sávitrí and Angiras.
Once on a time a hermit, named Angiras, asked Ashtávakra for the
hand of his daughter Sávitrí. But Ashtávakra would not give him his
daughter Sávitrí, though he was an excellent match, because she was
already betrothed to some one else. Then Angiras married Asrutá his
brother's daughter, and lived a long time with her as his wife in
great happiness; but she was well aware that he had previously been
in love with Sávitrí.
One day that hermit Angiras remained muttering for a long time in
an inaudible voice. Then his wife Asrutá asked him again and again
lovingly, "Tell me, my husband, why do you remain so long fixed
in thought?" He said, "My dear, I am meditating on the Sávitrí;"
and she, thinking that he meant Sávitrí, the hermit's daughter, was
vexed in soul. She said to herself, "He is miserable," so she went
off to the forest determined to abandon the body; and after she had
prayed that good fortune might attend her husband, she fastened a
rope round her neck. And at that moment Gáyatrí appeared with rosary
of aksha-beads and ascetic's pitcher, and said to her, "Daughter,
do not act rashly! Your husband was not thinking of any woman; he was
meditating on me, the holy Sávitrí;" and with these words she freed her
neck from the noose; and the goddess, merciful to her votaries, having
thus consoled her, disappeared. Then her husband Angiras, searching
for her, found her in the wood, and brought her home. So you see that
women in this world cannot endure the wounding of their affections.
"So you may be certain that this wife of the prince is angry on account
of some trifling injury, and is hidden somewhere in this place; for
she is under the protection of Siva; and we must again search for her."
When Rumanvat said this, the sovereign of Vatsa said, "It must be so:
for no misfortune can befall her, inasmuch as a heavenly voice said
'This Madanamanchuká is an incarnation of Rati, appointed by the god to
be the wife of Naraváhanadatta, who is an emanation of the god of Love,
and he shall rule the Vidyádharas with her as his consort for a kalpa
of the gods,' and this utterance cannot be falsified by the event. So
let her be carefully looked for." When the king himself said this,
Naraváhanadatta went out, though he was in such a miserable state.
But, however much he searched for her, he could not find her, so he
wandered about in various parts of the grounds, like one distracted;
when he went to her dwelling, the rooms with closed doors seemed
as if they had shut their eyes in despair at beholding his grief;
and when he went about in the groves asking for her, the trees,
agitating their shoots like hands seemed to say, "We have not seen
your beloved." When he searched in the gardens, the sárasa-birds,
flying up to the sky, seemed to tell him that she had not gone that
way. And his ministers Marubhúti, Harisikha, Gomukha, and Vasantaka
wandered about in every direction to find her.
In the meanwhile an unmarried Vidyádharí, of the name of Vegavatí,
having beheld Madanamanchuká in her splendid and glorious beauty,
deliberately took her shape, and came and stood alone in the garden
under an asoka-tree. Marubhúti saw her, as he was roaming about in
search of the queen, and she seemed at once to extract the dart from
his pierced heart. And in his joy he went to Naraváhanadatta, and said
to him, "Cheer up, I have seen your beloved in the garden." When he
said this, Naraváhanadatta was delighted, and immediately went with
him to that garden.
Then, exhausted with long bereavement, he beheld that semblance
of Madanamanchuká, with feelings like those with which a thirsty
traveller beholds a stream of water. And the moment he beheld her, the
much afflicted prince longed to embrace her, but she, being cunning
and wishing to be married by him, said to him, "Do not touch me now,
first hear what I have to say. Before I married you, I prayed to the
Yakshas to enable me to obtain you, and said, 'On my wedding-day
I will make offerings to you with my own hand.' But, my beloved,
when my wedding-day came, I forgot all about them. That enraged the
Yakshas, and so they carried me off from this place. And they have
just brought me here, and let me go, saying, 'Go and perform over
again that ceremony of marriage, and make oblations to us, and then
repair to your husband; otherwise you will not prosper.' So marry
me quickly, in order that I may offer the Yakshas the worship they
demand; and then fulfil all your desire."
When Naraváhanadatta heard that, he summoned the priest Sántisoma and
at once made the necessary preparations, and immediately married the
supposed Madanamanchuká, who was no other than the Vidyádharí Vegavatí,
having been for a short time quite cast down by his separation from
the real one. Then a great feast took place there, full of the clang
of cymbals, delighting the king of Vatsa, gladdening the queens,
and causing joy to Kahngasená. And the supposed Madanamanchuká,
who was really the Vidyádharí Vegavatí, made with her own hand an
offering of wine, flesh, and other dainties to the Yakshas. Then
Naraváhanadatta, remaining with her in her chamber, drank wine with
her in his exultation, though he was sufficiently intoxicated with
her voice. And then he retired to rest with her, who had thus changed
her shape, as the sun with the shadow. And she said to him in secret,
"My beloved, now that we have retired to rest, you must take care not
to unveil my face suddenly and look at me while asleep [523]." When
the prince heard this, he was filled with curiosity, to think what this
might be, and the next day he uncovered her face while she was asleep,
and looked at it, and lo! it was not Madanamanchuká, but some one else,
who, when asleep, had lost the power of disguising her appearance by
magic. [524] Then she woke up, while he was sitting by her awake. And
he said to her, "Tell me, who are you?" And the discreet Vidyádharí
seeing him sitting up awake, and being conscious that she was in her
own shape and that her secret was discovered, began to tell her tale
saying, "Listen, my beloved, I will now tell you the whole story."
"There is in the city of the Vidyádharas a mountain of the name
of Áshádhapura. There dwells a chief of the Vidyádharas, named
Mánasavega, a prince puffed up with the might of his arm, the son of
king Vegavat. I am his younger sister, and my name is Vegavatí. And
that brother of mine hated me so much that he was not willing
to bestow on me the sciences. Then I obtained them, though with
difficulty, from my father, who had retired to a wood of ascetics,
and, thanks to his favour, I possess them of greater power than any
other of our race. I myself saw the wretched Madanamanchuká, in the
palace of mount Áshádha, in a garden, surrounded by sentinels, I mean
your beloved, whom my brother has carried off by magic, as Rávana
carried off the afflicted Sítá, the wife of Rámabhadra. And as the
virtuous lady repels his caresses, he cannot subdue her to his will,
for a curse has been laid upon him, that will bring about his death,
if he uses violence to any woman.
"So that wicked brother of mine made use of me, to try and talk
her over; and I went to that lady, who could do nothing but talk of
you. And in my conversation with her, that virtuous lady mentioned
your name, [525] which was like a command from the god of Love, and
thus my mind then became fixed upon you alone. And then I remembered
an announcement which Párvatí made to me in a dream, much to the
following effect, 'You shall be married to that man the mere hearing of
whose name overpowers you with love.' When I had called this to mind,
I cheered up Madanamanchuká, and came here in her form, and married
myself to you by an artifice. So come, my beloved, I am filled with
such compassion for your wife Madanamanchuká that I will take you where
she is; for I am the devoted servant of my rival, even as I am of you,
because you love her. For I am so completely enslaved by love for you,
that I am rendered quite unselfish by it."
When Vegavatí had said this, she took Naraváhanadatta, and by
the might of her science flew up with him into the sky during the
night. And next morning, while she was slowly travelling through the
heaven, the attendants of the husband and wife were bewildered by
their disappearance. And when the king of Vatsa came to hear of it,
he was immediately, as it were, struck by a thunderbolt, and so were
Vásavadattá, Padmávatí and the rest. And the citizens, and the king's
ministers Yaugandharáyana and the others, together with their sons
Marubhúti and the rest, were altogether distracted.
Then the hermit Nárada, surrounded with a circle of light, descended
there from heaven, like a second sun. The king of Vatsa offered him the
arghya, and the hermit said to him, "Your son has been carried off by
a Vidyádharí to her country, but he will soon return; and I have been
sent by Siva to cheer you up." And after this prelude he went on to
tell the king of Vegavatí's proceedings, exactly as they took place;
then the king recovered his spirits and the hermit disappeared.
In the meanwhile Vegavatí carried Naraváhanadatta through the air to
the mountain Áshádhapura. And Mánasavega, hearing of it, hastened
there to kill them both. Then Vegavatí engaged with her brother in
a struggle which was remarkable for a great display of magic power;
for a woman values her lover as her life, and much more than her own
relations. Then she assumed by the might of her magic a terrible form
of Bhairava, and at once striking Mánasavega senseless, she placed
him on the mountain of Agni. [526] And she took Naraváhanadatta, whom
at the beginning of the contest she had deposited in the care of one
of her sciences, [527] and placed him in a dry well in the city of
the Gandharvas, to keep him. And when he was there, she said to him,
"Remain here a little while, my husband; good fortune will befall you
here; and do not despond in your heart, O man appointed to a happy
lot, for the sovereignty over all the Vidyádharas is to be yours. But
I must leave this for the present, to appease my sciences, impaired
by my resistance to my elder brother; however, I will return to you
soon." When the Vidhyádharí Vegavatí had said this, she departed
somewhere or other.
CHAPTER CVI.
Then a certain Gandharva, of the name of Vínádatta, saw Naraváhanadatta
in that well. Truly if there were not great souls in this world,
born for the benefit of others, relieving distress as wayside trees
heat, the world would be a withered forest. Thus the good Gandharva,
as soon as he saw Naraváhanadatta, asked him his name and lineage, and